The 99th Round Earlier this month, in response to what he, and others, considered an excessive amount of "pork" in the latest energy bill, John McCain told his Senate colleagues, "The outbreak of Washington trichinosis will be so severe, we will be forced to have a field office for the Centers for Disease Control right next to the...

Top ranked heavyweight contenders Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko are definitely lightning rods, just like Mike Tyson and Roy Jones. When speaking about Tyson and Jones with most fans, you get one of two views. Either Tyson at his best was the greatest heavyweight ever, and Jones at his best was the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time. Or, Tyson was an overrated front runner who was stopped by the best fighters he faced. And Jones was a big fish in a small pond, who fought during a very weak middleweight and light heavyweight...

Having seen a mere 25 turns of the calendar, "Ferocious" Fernando Vargas has a lifetime of ring wars under his belt. Here's to hoping that he and his team have learned something from it. Despite a stellar record of 24-2-0, it is the two "L's" that are cause for concern for the former...

The day is nearly upon us- Christmas. Which means that most of you are probably running around like crazy this time of the year putting the finishing touches on the holiday season. And just days away from December 25th, most of you are doing some last minute X-mas...

Whoa, what's this, a little integrity? Some sincerity? Some crazy guy keeping his word? It's a new high for the fight game, a little of the good stuff creeping in among all the bad. At least that's how it sounds, though past history has always served as an ugly reminder that a fighter's word is usually the worst part of his game....

He's one month shy of turning 39. He just made the 17th consecutive defense of his world middleweight championship. In his last fight he won a lopsided 12 round decision over former three time champ, William Joppy. In that fight, he for filled his last fight of a three fight deal he signed with promoter Don King when he defeated former three division champ, Felix Trinidad. He is Bernard...

On Saturday night December 13th, undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins will fight three time middleweight champ William Joppy. On Thursday January 15th 2004, Hopkins will celebrate his 39th birthday. It's unbelievable that Hopkins has been able to maintain so much of his ability at such an advanced age. Thirty nine years is very old for a fighter, very...

Bubba didn't have a good night. Maybe that's because waffles, chocolate cake, Big Macs and mashed potatoes don't sit well when you're getting ready to fight. Ding Dongs and Twinkies are not the breakfast of...

A few months back after heavyweight Joe Mesi stopped DaVarryl Williamson in the first round, I wrote a column titled "Don't Overreact To Mesi's Early Knockout." The purpose of the article was to try and quell some of the overreaction and analization of Mesi based off of a one round...

Saturday night on HBO we saw heavyweight mammoth Vitali Klitschko and Joe Mesi take steps that each hope will move them toward an eventual heavyweight title. If that happens we could have two of the nicest young men in the sport wearing title belts around their waists . . . but who wants that? I know that the holiday season is officially upon us and everyone is in the spirit of goodwill toward men, blah blah blah . . . so where's the Grinch when we really need...

Last week I told you that Kirk Johnson would beat Vitaly Klitschko. Well, that goes right along with my predictions that 'Gigli' would be a box-office smash, that Members Only jackets would always be in style, that beta would be more popular than VHS and that Michael Jackson could be trusted with your...

Who's the best fighter in the heavyweight division? I would say that mostly everyone throughout the boxing community would agree that it's Lennox Lewis. Other than a major slip against Hasim Rahman in April of 2001, Lewis has clearly been the best heavyweight since March of 1999 when he clearly beat Evander Holyfield and was shafted out of the decision. Some may argue that Lewis has been the top heavyweight even before 1999, but in my opinion it wasn't cemented until he beat Holyfield for the title,...

On Saturday night December 6th, two heavyweight fights will take place in the boxing Mecca of the world, New York's Madison Square Garden. In the main event Vitali Klitschko will fight Kirk Johnson. This is a fight that features two of the top ranked heavyweights in the world who don't hold a title. Prior to the Klitschko-Johnson title elimination, undefeated Joe Mesi will take on fringe contender Monte Barrett. The winner of the Mesi-Barrett fight takes a step closer to a possible title shot. Below are my thoughts on both fights and the...

The 98th Round
Back on May 10, 2002, junior middleweight contender Kassim Ouma stepped into a ring at Delaware's Dover Downs for his fight with Jason Papillon, wearing a back ad displaying the name of an online casino - something that was expressly forbidden by the televising outlet, ESPN. Contracts issued by the network had included a clause that if a fighter did indeed wear one of these back ads, the promoter of the bout could get fined up to $10,000. In this case, the promoter was Russell Peltz, also a contract employee of ESPN, and he was...

Now that Joe Mesi has scored an impressive knockout in his HBO debut, look out! The HBO-Mesi relationship is about to begin. Muhammad Ali had a saying about Jerry Quarry and Duane Bobick in the early 1970's, who were the main white heavyweight contenders during that era. It went something like this when referring to Quarry and Bobick, "They Have The Complexion and The Connection To Get The Protection!" No doubt that HBO see's the market out there for a white heavyweight contender. Just for the record there hasn't been a white American...

The most recent HBO promotion run on their network has both Vitaly Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, on a secluded island, plotting world domination of the heavyweight division. The two hulking Ukrainians laugh maniacally as they plot out supremacy in boxing's marquee division like Lex Luther did in Superman comic...